You are taking big risks if you use an unregistered preparer to:
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prepare and lodge your tax returns and statements
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provide you with tax advice
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represent you in your dealings with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Tax practitioners include tax agents and BAS agents. They must be registered with us to provide tax agent services, BAS services or in some cases, tax (financial) advice services for a fee or other reward.
Check if your tax practitioner is operating legally
What are the risks?
Listed below are some risks that you face if you use an unregistered preparer to provide you with a tax agent service (which includes a BAS or tax (financial) advice service):
The unregistered preparer may not be fit and proper or have the required qualifications or experience to provide you with a competent service that meets appropriate professional and ethical standards.
If the unregistered preparer fails to lodge a tax return or statement on your behalf by the required due date or makes a false or misleading statement to the ATO (for example, by lodging an incorrect return or BAS), and this results in a tax shortfall amount, the ATO may impose administrative penalties on you.
Under the ‘safe harbour’ provisions administered by the ATO, you will not be liable for penalties in certain circumstances, if you engage a registered tax practitioner. However you will not be entitled to any ‘safe harbour’ protection if you engage an unregistered preparer. For further information, refer to Safe harbour.
The unregistered preparer may not have appropriate professional indemnity insurance cover to compensate you if you suffer loss due to an act, error or omission that results from a service they provide.
Sharing your myGov account details puts your personal and financial affairs at risk!
The TPB is investigating several cases involving unregistered preparers posing as legitimate registered tax practitioners, who lodge tax returns on behalf of their clients. These unregistered preparers operate, often by accessing the myGov accounts of their clients and lodging their returns through myTax.
Please note that myTax should only be used by a taxpayer to lodge their own tax return, and is not an approved lodgement channel for registered tax practitioners. A registered tax practitioner also does not require access to their client’s myGov account to act on their behalf.
As such you should take care not to share your myGov password with anyone. Sharing your information (such as your myGov password) with an unregistered preparer puts your personal and financial affairs at risk.
Be protected by using registered tax practitioners
We protect consumers of tax agent services by registering and regulating tax practitioners, so they meet the appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct.
Check the TPB Register or look for the Registered tax practitioner symbol to ensure your tax practitioner is registered.
Using a registered tax practitioner means they:
have satisfied the TPB that they are fit and proper and have the required qualifications and experience, to provide you with tax agent services
are required to comply with the Code of Professional Conduct (Code), which regulates the personal and professional conduct of registered tax practitioners. Amongst other obligations, the Code requires them to:
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account to you for any money or other property they receive on your behalf and hold on trust. This includes tax refunds and other payments received from the ATO, and money you provide to them for a specific purpose (such as paying a tax liability)
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ensure that they provide competent tax agent services to you
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maintain knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services they provide
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take reasonable care when ascertaining your affairs that are relevant to the service they provide, and when applying the tax laws to your circumstances
have appropriate professional indemnity insurance cover to compensate you if you suffer loss due to any act, error or omission by the tax practitioner.
Case studies
The following cases are some examples of actions we have taken against unregistered preparers to protect the public:
Last modified: 22 March 2023